Will Tun & the Wasters – The anachronists cookbook interview

Redstar73 Blog: Please can you introduce your band. When was it started? What about your name?
Will Tun & the Wasters,: Our band is called Will Tun & the Wasters, and we started almost 6 years ago now- crikey! Although we’re in a period of transition at the mo and we’ll be changing name soon, likely to ‘Wasters Revolt’ or just ‘The Wasters’. We started this band with very little experience of folk instruments, raised mostly on Ska and Punk but still loving that folk tradition and diversity. So we picked up the accordions, tin whistles etc without knowing how to play them and learnt them via the band. We were shit for quite a while, but luckily we had the band and each other to get better, slowly!
We started this band pretty young and it’s been a very personal journey for us, we’ve really lived our lives through the band and grown to adulthood through the crazy experiences it’s given us. .Will has moved onto other things now, hence the name change happening soon!

Redstar73 Blog: You have just released your debut album. Tell us more about it!
Will Tun & the Wasters,: Well, it was over 5 years in the making! Stylistically we’ve consumed a lot of music in that time, from Balkan/Eastern European styles to Latin grooves, Hip-hop, Folk, you name it. So rather than settle on one we tried to encapsulate ALL the styles we loved. The title “The Anachronist’s Cookbook” means that it’s a real melting pot and it’s an Anachronism, lots of musical traditions and styles not quite in the place you might expect them. Lyrically I hope that we kept it real, stayed true to our experiences, stood in solidarity with our communities and others in a similar place to put a positive message out there.

Redstar73 Blog: Whats up next for the Will Tun & The Wasters?
Will Tun & the Wasters,: Well we’re going to be releasing new music when we change name, still collaborating heavily with the fantastic political rapper MC Amalgam as a member of the band to bring the Hip-hop vibe.

Redstar73 Blog: How important is for you the DIY idea and politics?
Will Tun & the Wasters,: For us it’s a complete mirror to our lives. I feel that music and a music scene is an amazing way to ignite passions and abilities within all of us. It’s a chance for people to get liberated, release some energy, feel a part of something, learn some new skills, create things for ourselves. For us DIY is a mentality and a way of life, based on the idea that we shouldn’t be waiting around for someone else to shape our lives and communities for us, we need to make our own future by working positively to make the community as inclusive/accessible/open and welcoming as we can.
The music scene is definitely far from that idealised vision of things, but the beauty of DIY culture is that the potential for change always exists; it just takes someone to do it. Here’s a little article I wrote: a “how to” of DIY gig organising to create a better scene! http://seeingyourscene.com/features/seeing-scene-vs-pay-play-4-will-tun-wasters/

Redstar73 Blog: How is the scene in Bristol? Any good place to go to for visitors?
Will Tun & the Wasters,: The scene in Bristol can be really great. It’s got a big Punk/Ska scene but it’s also renowned for it’s dancey “Festival Band” scene and Electronic scene. It’s got a lot! For Punk your first stop is The Plough and The Chelsea in Easton area which is Punks/Hippie central, especially Riotska Records gigs (the amazing label that put out our album alongside amazing international bands). Hydra Bookshops is an amazing leftwing bookshop with wicked DIY and smaller gigs. Stokes Croft is the famous party destination which still has a lot of life if you dig that. The Attic Bar, The Crofters Rights, Leftbank. The Old Malthouse/Jam Jar Collective is an amazing community warehouse run by artists doing fantastic gigs. If you want to party til 5 in the morning it all gets quite Hard-tek at the Black Swan.
Bristol is a great place to party, but like anywhere it’s not a perfect scene and some places might not feel very inclusive/welcoming to some people and it sexism/racism/ableism can take on very subtle forms, so it should be up to everyone to make it a more welcoming scene for everyone and speak out if there’s discrimination of any kind from people or venues- quite often being mouthy and vocal about it can help towards changing the culture of the live scene.

6) Last words
Will Tun & the Wasters,: You can’t buy community, you can only choose to help make it.